VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Ijen Crater is a crater lake located on the top of Mt. Ijen in the Ijen Tourism Park Nature Reserve, Bondowoso Regency and Banyuwangi Regency, East Java province. This lake is about 200 meters deep and the crater area is 5,466 hectares wide. Ijen Crater Lake is known to be the largest strong acid lake in the world. The main gateway to the Ijen Crater Nature Reserve is located in Paltuding, which is also a Forest Protection and Nature Conservation Post.From Paltuding, you can walk a distance of about 3 km.

The initial trajectory as far as 2 km is quite heavy because it is uphill. Most trails have a slope of 25-35 degrees. In addition to going uphill, the soil structure is also sandy, making the climbers' footsteps heavier because they have to hold their weight so that they don't fall backwards. To go down to the crater, you have to traverse a rocky terrain as far as 800 meters with steep conditions up to a slope of 45 degrees. So, excellent physical condition is highly recommended if you want to go on an adventure to Ijen crater.

In Ijen Crater, there is an eternal blue fire phenomenon. This natural sight only occurs in two countries in the world, namely in Ethiopia (Mt. Dallol) and Ijen Crater in Indonesia. Blue fire can only be seen by the eyes when there is no light. So, the right time to see it is 2 to 4 in the morning. From Ijen Crater, we can see other mountain views in the Mt. Ijen ranges, including the peak of Mt. Marapi which is east of Ijen Crater, Mt. Raung, Mt. Suket, and Mt. Rante.

Proud news has returned from the world of education in Indonesia. A student of the Biology Study Program, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Padjadjaran University, Riska Kurniawati won an international award at the "International Fair of Youth Research and Education 2021" which was held virtually by the Indonesia Scientific Society on August 21. At the event, Riska obtained a Diploma with the title "Excellent" for the proposed research project. The research project is entitled "Eco-Detergent: Biodegradable Detergent from Corn Stover (Zea mays L.) and Lerak Fruit (Sapindus rarak DC) as a Water Friendly Solution".

In this scientific work, Riska and his supervisor, Dr. Budi Irawan developed an environmentally friendly detergent that is biodegradable from a combination of corn stover and lerak fruit. The development of this research was carried out to replace the use of chemical detergents for daily life. Based on the initial review, chemical detergents are one of the agents that can pollute water sustainability. The chemical content of detergents can cause poisoning and death of living organisms in the water, causing eutrophication events so as to reduce water quality levels. In addition, the water contaminated with detergent will be dangerous if used for the benefit of human life. Furthermore, Riska also explained that the combination of corn stover and lerak fruit containing saponins as surfactant agents can be used as a natural cleanser and can be degraded. The research method used is extraction to produce liquid components, foam test, foam stability test, and acidity test. From the tests carried out, the saponins content in the lerak fruit was 28% with the highest foam height of 2.7 cm in the test tube. The acidity level in the lerak solution is 5, while the acidity level in the lerak foam is 6 and the corn stover foam is 5.  These results indicate that liquid detergent from corn stover and lerak fruit can be used as an environmentally friendly product and has the potential to become a biodegradable detergent in the future.

The International Fair of Youth Research and Education 2021 is an international scientific competition which is participated by professional researchers, undergraduate students, and high school students from all over the world. Each participant who is selected has the opportunity to present his/her research before the panelists. Each presenter is assessed based on three predicates, namely “Excellent”, “Very Good”, and “Good Research Project”. This year, the 2021 event was attended by 36 selected teams to present their research projects. Riska had the opportunity to be a presenter with 15 other presenters from Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, Nepal, and Iraq. Meanwhile, the panelist team that attended consisted of 23 people from academia.

Voice of Indonesia presents Let’s Speak Indonesian, a program that introduces the Indonesian vocabulary and guides you to speak in the language. Mari Berbahasa Indonesia or Let’s Speak Indonesian is a joint initiative of Voice of Indonesia and the Language Development Agency of the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture.  Today’s topic is about Kerja dari Rumah which means Work from Home.

Here is the conversation entitled Kapan Masuk? which means When Will We Go Back to the Office? Kevin dan Mela are working from home. Kevin asks Mela when they will go back to the office again. Let’s read to the conversation.

After reading to the conversation, now I am going to introduce some vocabulary and expressions related to the topic of the day.

In the dialog, you listen to a sentence Kapan kita akan masuk kantor lagi (2x) which means When will we go back to the office? In the sentence, there is a question word kapan? (2x) which means when? It is used to ask time. For example, Kapan kita akan masuk kantor lagi? (2x) which means When will we go back to the office? The answer of this question may be general, may be specific.

Let’s read to the other examples of sentences to state that an activity is postponed or canceled.

Kevin          : Kapan rapat akan dimulai? (2x) which means When will the meeting start?

Mela           : Sebentar lagi (2x) which means In a minute

Kevin          : Kapan kamu mulai bekerja di sini? (2x) which means When did you start working here?

Mela           : Tahun dua ribu delapan belas (2x) which means In twenty eighteen

Kevin          : Kapan kita akan rapat? (2x) which means When will we have the meeting?

Mela           : Pagi ini pukul sembilan (2x) which means At 9 am

Indonesian regions are divided into three time zones. They are Western Indonesia Time (WIB), Central Indonesia Time (WITa) and Eastern Indonesia Time (WIT). WIB is one hour slower than WITa and two hours slower than WIT. Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, is in WIB zone.

That was “Let’s Speak Indonesian” for today. Hopefully, this edition can be useful for those of you who want to know more about Indonesian language.

Indonesian Minister for Cooperatives and Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Teten Masduki said that the export demand of Indonesian MSMEs is still high amid the Covid-19 pandemic. However, some obstacles still persist, beginning from production capacity to container availability. This was expressed in a press statement when he visied Purworejo, Central Java on Sunday (29/8).

Minister Teten Masduki stated that there are many export demands for furniture, coffee, tropical fruits, and foods.

He further said that container scarcity can be handled with additional shipping costs, which is quite expensive. About the shipping cost, Minister Teten Masduki said that it can be discussed and formulated with the inter-ministerial National Economic Recovery Committee.

He also explained that currently he is targeting export-potential MSMEs that have marked demand but their supply chain needs some improvement. For instance, briquettes made from coconut shells and palm sugar have very great export demand that can be developed.

Although the demand of two commodities is high, MSMEs in Sulawesi and West Java cannot fulfill the demand because of many conditions, starting from production capacity to the management issues. Until now, the MSMEs' export contribution is still 14.37 percent. In a such condition, Minister Teten Masduki recommended that the MSMEs can focus on domestic markets that can substitute the import products, such as fruits and muslim fashion. If the economy is fully restored, he hopes that domestic consumption can keep growing. Because the Indonesian economy is supported by household consumption up to 53 percent.

Minister Teten Masduki is optimistic that the social restrictions can help reviving the economy.